Photo provided by Michigan Technological University A rendering shows a new Michigan Technological University residence hall from above U.S. 41 looking east. Construction is expected to start later this year on the hall, which will be located east of the Rozsa Center.

HOUGHTON — In anticipation of continued student growth, Michigan Technological University is adding its first student housing in more than a decade.

The new residence hall on the east side of campus will house more than 500 second-year and upper-division students.

Tech’s Board of Trustees approved a predevelopment agreement for the new hall at its meeting Friday. Planning will begin this summer for the new hall, which is tentatively planned to open in fall 2025.

Construction is expected to start later this year. The new hall will be on U.S. 41, east of the Rozsa Center.

The hall fits with Tech’s strategic plan, which calls for “steady and measured growth” between now and 2035, said Vice President for University Relations and Enrollment John Lehman.

The past two fall semesters have seen the largest enrollments since 1984, including 1,388 incoming first-year students last year. Domestic applications for this fall are up 33% from 2022, a new record.

“Looking at a clip of about 2.5% growth per year, we could easily see that we were going to be needing more residential hall space for our undergrad students, and started to put the plans in motion for that, particularly after the board passed the campus master plan last fall,” said Lehman. “The H-STEM building and this were part of the master plan, and so we knew that was the natural next step.”

Plans call for the new hall to offer suites with both single- and double-occupancy bedrooms and semiprivate baths.

“We know that these will be highly sought-after spaces,” Lehman said. “They’re suite-style living, and we find that that type of living is of interest to our upper-division students, and we want to be sure that they can capitalize on that opportunity.”

Once built, it will join Douglass Houghton Hall as the only residential spaces north of U.S. 41. Lehman said the new building site was picked to make use of available space and also to put students near existing amenities such as dining services.

“We saw that we have that space there, and the view is tremendous,” he said. “Being able to situate students where they’ll be able to look over the Keweenaw Waterway as they go about their daily lives is pretty spectacular.”

The new hall will be on land currently used for parking by the Rozsa Center. Lehman said the remaining parking between the Rozsa and the new hall will be retained for Rozsa patrons and commuter students. There shouldn’t be much overlap in demand for the spots, Lehman said.

“Most of the Rozsa events, especially the high-traffic ones, are during non-class hours,” he said.

Lot 10E, near the solar panels, will be converted from a resident lot to a commuter lot. The existing resident parking will be moved to a new lot being built off of Seventh Avenue.

Residents at the new hall will park in Lot 21, off of Garnet Street.

The new hall will be the first residential construction for Tech since Hillside Place, which opened in 2010.

Over the next seven years, Tech projects to grow its enrollment by about 800 students. The new hall will house about 500 of those. Lehman said the university also expects to see growth in off-campus housing from new complexes.

“We’re aware that developers are looking at that,” he said.

Longer-term ideas in Tech’s master plan include a mixed-use development on U.S. 41 and Macinnes Drive with apartments for upper-level and graduate students, and a residential hall for lower-level students on the west end of campus.